Japan 3-11 – One Year On

Today marks the 1 year mark since the massive earthquake and tsunami hit the Touhoku area (north east) of Japan. Tomorrow will mark 1 year since the first reactor at the Daiichi nuclear power plant exploded due to a meltdown.

As you may or may not know, I have been living and still live in Fukushima prefecture with my wife and 1 year old son, about 70 kms from the Pacific coast and troubled Daiichi powerplant.

I want to let you know that we are all safe, healthy and happy here. There are still a lot of different opinions and debate over the safety of Fukushima so I appreciate your thoughts and concerns both positive and negative. But I don’t want to start a debate here. We are far outside the 30km exclusion zone and keep a close eye on the news and everything that is happening around us.

The main thing is that we are living peacefully and enjoying each day that we have together here in this beautiful country. Spring will soon be upon us and we’re looking forward to enjoying the outdoors without all the snow around us.

On TV tonight, there was a program covering the 1 year anniversary of the 3-11 disaster on 5 out of the 6 Japanese TV channels. After watching, I consider myself extremely lucky to get away with such little consequence compared to tens of thousands who lost everything – including their families.

Image by Karolina Burdon

We are still alive. I, my wife and son are perfectly safe and healthy – as is my wife’s family and relatives. My house or car didn’t get washed away. I didn’t have to re-locate to a temporary house made of thin sheet metal on top of a baseball field. None of my friends or extended family lost anything either.

Strangely enough, everything returned to normal within a couple of months after the whole thing went down (or blew up!) – just like it was up until the time of the disaster. The only thing that is different in our lives, and keeps us ‘guessing’ is the radiation. But like I said, we’re aware of it and staying out of harms way. Food, water, air, are all tested extensively. Our city hall provides regular health checks (if we want them). All supervisions for our health and prosperity are provided so we can live peacefully here.

Anyway, life is too short to be worried. We’re all going to leave this world behind us some day so the best thing to do is live everyday like it’s your last. I try to find a little bit of happiness in every day and that is all I need – and is so easy.

Thanks for reading.. and thanks for all your support over the last 12 months!

2 thoughts on “Japan 3-11 – One Year On”

Glad to hear everything goes back to normal after the disaster. But still be aware of the radiation..most people outside japan are talking about that. But thank God it’s not as bad as what people has discussed.

Didn’t know you lived in Japan…I would love to hear details about living there and even more importantly how to properly approach the Japanese woman as I’ve always been enchanted by them.

btw,
I know its my first time commenting here but sometimes it just takes me a while to sift through all the blogs ans this one is a nifty site with a clear design almost like what I was going to go for before the theme I have now.